Namakkal, August 14, 2013: Dalits of Oduvankurichi – about 7 km. from Rasipuram Town, in Namakkal District – entered a temple attached to the Hindu Religious and Charities Endowment (HR&CE) Department amidst tight police security on Tuesday morning.

Protesting against the entry of Dalits into the temple, Caste Hindus of that village did not come to the temple on that day. Revenue officials sealed the temple during the wee hours of Friday after a group of Caste Hindus staged a dharna inside the temple on Thursday protesting against the move of authorities to allow Dalits into the Kashiviswanathar Temple. While three rounds of peace talks conducted by the revenue officials on August 6, 8 and 10 met with a failure, the seal was removed on Tuesday morning.

Puja performed

Rasipuram Tahsildar K. Ayyavu opened the seal following which a group of 11 Dalits entered the temple. Puja were performed for them. District Collector V. Dakshinamoorthi and other officials also visited the spot.

Police led by the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Salem Range Sanjay Kumar, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Namakkal P. Kannammal and Salem Rural SP R. Sakthivel supervised security arrangements.

Source: The Hindu, DT. August 14, 2013.